Two Guilty in Slayings That Led to Compton Assault Gun Ban : Trial: A 2-year-old and a teen-ager were the drive-by victims. The attackers could face the gas chamber.

Two reputed gang members were convicted of murder Monday, three years after they killed a 2-year-old Compton boy and his teen-age neighbor in a drive-by shooting that outraged the community and led Compton to ban assault weapons.

David Florence and Ricky Johnson could face the gas chamber after being found guilty by a Superior Court jury of two counts of first-degree murder and the special circumstance of multiple murder.

The jury will reconvene Wednesday to begin the trial’s penalty phase.

The toddler, Phillip Fisher, became one of the area’s youngest victims of gang violence when he was shot in the head while playing in his front yard.

The shooting deaths of Phillip and his next-door neighbor, Deandrea Richards, 19, on Jan. 28, 1989, sparked a protest by 100 people who marched through the rain to Compton City Hall, demanding that city officials stop the violence.

Within two weeks, the Compton City Council enacted a law banning all semiautomatic weapons. But in the three years it took for the case to go to trial, the crime and the boy have been nearly forgotten, said Phillip’s father, Greg Fisher.

While Florence and Johnson have been on trial, Greg Fisher has read of other children gunned down in full view of their fathers, he said.

“I don’t know if it’s ever going to stop,” Fisher, 34, said. “Our youngest boy is now 2, just like Phillip was, and he looks exactly like him. . . . Some days, I’m afraid to let him out of my sight.”

The day of violence that ended with the death of Phillip and Richards began with a simple traffic mishap, according to testimony.

A woman, backing out of her driveway on Reeves Street, nearly collided with a carload of gang members, Deputy Dist. Atty. Michele Gilmer said. The gang members got into an argument with the woman’s friends, members of a rival gang, witnesses said.

Richards was slapped in the face during the argument. Seeking revenge, he retrieved a gun from his house and went looking for the other gang members’ cars, according to testimony.

Richards spotted rival gang members driving down Alondra Boulevard and pulled up next to their car, a blue Buick. Leaning out of his sunroof, Richards fired four shots into the passenger side, witnesses said.

The Buick careened across several lanes of traffic and crashed into a gas station where witnesses saw Florence and Johnson get out of the car. About two hours later, the same blue Buick cruised up to 1301 S. Central Ave. where Richards was talking with friends and playing with the toddler.

As it slowed near the house, the Buick’s lights were shut off and an AK-47 assault rifle blazed from the passenger side. Witnesses said Richards tried to run to safety, holding the child in his arms.

One witness pointed out Johnson as the gunman after seeing him in a police lineup. Witnesses testified that they had seen Florence in the car, which belonged to him, during the earlier shooting.

Florence and Johnson acknowledged being victims of the shooting on Alondra, but said they did not seek revenge.

Johnson claimed he was at a birthday party that night--and produced witnesses who agreed--and Florence, testifying on his own behalf, said he spent the evening with his sister and aunt.